Shortly after the trade deadline expires, the Los Angeles Kings play the Nashville Predators in a game that will define the nature of their last marvelous 4-0 performance against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. Was it merely a gulp of air as taken by a man in a maelstrom to stave off drowning a futile moment longer, or was it a spiked boot planted obstinately alongside the mountain down which they tumbled? Tonight their performance, their attitude, their execution and their confidence will speak towards the answer to this question. Let’s all bow our heads and pray to the hockey gods that be that their feet are firmly engaged against the gas pedal. No letting up.

The Predators are like the Kings in a few ways. They rely heavily on system, goaltending and defense. They score more than the Kings (who doesn’t) and they do it by committee. There are no offensive dynamos in Nashville, but they have just about 3 lines worth of players who are fully capable of scoring 20 or more goals this season. The Kings have only played them once so far this season, a game which they won 4-3. A pleasant note I noticed is that Jeff Carter has already played the Preds 4 times this year and has 5 goals and 2 assists in those 4 games. Tack that on to the list of positive trends I would like to see continue.

Dustin Brown leading by example is at the top of that list. Anze Kopitar driving the net is second. Jonathan Bernier starting either tonight or tomorrow is third… oh wait, that’s one trend I want to see broken.

As far as the trade deadline is concerned, not much is expected of the Kings, having already acquired Jeff Carter in what is likely to be this year’s highest profile deal, unless Columbus up and decides to trade Rick Nash at the last minute. Perhaps the Kings will make a depth move to shore up the bottom six, something that would certainly be welcome. Darren Dreger reported this morning that P.A. Parenteau (an upcoming UFA) is being dangled by the New York Islanders. If the Kings are looking to add further secondary scoring, Parental Abuse Parenteau might be a good option if the price is right, which is probably isn’t.

The Predators have made the sole deal of deadline day thus far, picking up the missing half of their Kostitsyn zygote. Whether Andrei joins his brother Sergei tonight for the game, I don’t know. Oh what the hell, let me spend 30 seconds researching for once… well that was pointless. All I found was the fact that they traded for him. Time will, as it always has been, be the best solver of a ponderance.

If anything else interesting happens trade-wise (that isn’t Kings related), I will update this post for discussion, otherwise this is your deadline day/game day open forum.

First lopsided trade of the day……….Sharks get Winnik & Galiardi from Avs for a cheap shot artist, a Bag of pucks and a chuckle……..

As Solid as San Jose is on their top 2 lines, their bottom 2 lines have only Handzus, adding Winnik & Galiardi to their 3rd line works well…..

Can we rob the Avs in the next hour????

Canucks also robbed Columbus, 2 4th round picks for Pahlsson!!!!
I guess with the extra 1st we give Columbus and the extra 2nd from Phoenix, the BJ’s wanted to make sure they have enough picks to draft any remaining players that fell to the 4th round…….
The problem is that Columbus hasn’t drafted any Good players EVER in the draft, except Nash who was the Big #1. All 3 players they’ve traded this month, were not drafted by them…..they could possibly be the worst drafting team in the history of the NHL……
So they Give up Carter, Vermette and Pahlsson
They get J.Johnson + 4 picks ( 1st, 2nd & 4th x2 )….Maybe Lombardi isn’t so stupid compared to Howson

A 2nd round pick for UFA Kostitsyn, seems ok until you concider that Mr. Poille has to resign UFA Suter, and deal with another arbitration for RFA Weber.
BUT, then trading a 1st and a 4th for UFA Gaustad????
I hope Nashville’s fan’s are smoking the same shit as their GM, because if they don’t make it past the first round of the playoff’s, their team is going to look very similar to Columbus next season……..

That’s why Vancouver’s Gillies get’s players to take less money to go for the CUP

And other GM’s have to pay 7 mil a season for a goalie that has only won 1 playoff round, needs an arbitrator to show him what Weber’s worth really is, and will lose Suter for nothing and have no picks to add depth!!!!!

Carter was supposed to be a good start, a fucking start. Not the finish. The Kings are supposed to fucking win a Cup with Colin Fraser and Dwight King in their bottom 6?

San Jose predictably did really well. Two really solid top 9 forwards, especially Galiardi is going to be a stud 2nd line winger for them for the next 10 years. Unbelievable. Cant believe Sherman is that stupid and Lombardi let SJ take advantage while not taking advantage himself.

And so what the Kings aren’t doing much. Carter is and will remain to be the biggest trade. Sure, some help in the bottom 6 would have been nice, but there are always many, many options for that in the summer. Also, without 1st, 2nd or 3rd round picks, its difficult to trade for those guys, since picks is usually what selling teams want back.

“The Kings are supposed to fucking win a Cup with Colin Fraser and Dwight King in their bottom 6?”

… They weren’t going to win a Cup anyway, but yeah those two guys shouldn’t be on the roster.

I’m actually not too disappointed at the Kings’ inactivity after the Carter deal. I would have liked to see Bernier traded, so that he might have a chance to fucking play once in a great while – but as I predicted, his lack of playing time killed off his trade value.

Beyond Johnson and Bernier, there really wasn’t anyone the Kings could trade away without opening a big hole. Unless, of course, the Kings were to trade Quick instead of Bernier, which would have likely brought back a top six forward; but making that kind of deal takes some progressive thinking and some balls, so obviously it was out of the question for this regime.

If Quick is dealt, there’s still a goalie who’s ready to take over on the roster and goalies in the system. I don’t feel any of them are in the organization for decorative purposes. I feel they are there to use.

Bernier’s lack of playing time certainly did diminish his trade value. You don’t trade for a #1 goalie based on “potential”. He needed more starts so that GM’s could actually see what he’d turn out to be. There were several reports that GM’s were interested but ultimately declined to make an offer because of his lack of playing time.

No – It doesn’t. It would have been the smartest thing to do actually. Quick is going to command a lot of money (Some are talking Rinne) when his contract is up, and he would have brought back in return yet another goal scorer. It’s pretty simple actually. I’ll take a top 6 forward, and a goalie that is good enough as it is over one Jon Quick.

I just can’t believe this logic. I am a HUGE Bernier believer, but it has nothing to do with that. It’s that the Kings FINALLY have a goalie they KNOW kicks ass, and to up trade him away right when he finally is kicking ass isn’t balls, its actually fear. Fear that Quick will cost too much. Fear that we won’t be able to get another top 6 forward any other way. Brazen confidence that Bernier will be just as good, when we don’t KNOW that. We KNOW what Quick can do. I want to see what Bernier can do as well, but it needs to be where he gets more starts as a backup first. We HAD to throw Quick into the frying pan because we had no other choice 3 (4?) years ago. We have a choice now, so to make a desperation move when you don’t have to is stupid. Quick is still signed another year. The Kings have plenty of time to negotiate and see where his price is. Maybe they give Bernier more games next year, he looks good and Quick asks for way too much money and you can trade him next year. But to just up and trade Quick now, would be the single most monumentally stupid thing this organization has ever done, and I can’t reiterate that point enough.

Quick is a product (not saying he’s a bad goaltender) of playing behind a very elite defense core and defensive system. The logic behind trading Quick is because Berniers value HAS been depleted due to the Kings not playing him, because Quick IS a product of the system, and because you can sign Bernier for a lot cheaper, saving cap space. Furthermore, the logic is that.. well – the Kings would simply benefit more by trading Quick than they would Bernier. Again: Top 6 Forward/Bernier > Quick.

Unless you are wrong and that Quick has more to do with the low GAA than you think. If you make that trade and Bernier doesn’t pan out, like oh, I don’t know, way too many great goalie prospects the Kings’ have fucked up in the past to count, then you are left with a top 6 forward and less than stellar goaltending. If Quick and Bernier are equals, then sure, adding a top six forward is a good idea. But if Quick and Bernier are equal, why wouldn’t Bernier want a big raise too?

Also why is paying Quick a fair amount (~5 mill) a big deal? Lots of teams give their goalie a good amount of cap space and it doesn’t cripple them. If Quick has earned it, then he deserves it and I want the Kings to give it to him.

Like I said, you and JT are making this out to be like holding onto Quick is the safe move, which I suppose it is in a strict sense, but moving Bernier is as much about fear of the future as it is confidence.

“It’s that the Kings FINALLY have a goalie they KNOW kicks ass, and to up trade him away right when he finally is kicking ass isn’t balls”

… Sure it is. This is Quick’s first season with above-average results, they’re likely due to a great defense in front of him – in fact, I’m becoming more and more convinced of this as the season goes along.

It takes balls to trade someone who has high value, and to play a younger guy who’s shown everything he needs to show in order to become the number one goalie.

– Because Bernier cannot possibly command a “big raise.” He hasn’t played nearly enough to do that.

“Also why is paying Quick a fair amount (~5 mill) a big deal?”

– I do not feel he is worth $5M. As said before, I give the bulk of the credit to the defensive core/system. I feel that Quick is a slightly above average goaltender behind a great defensive team. Furthermore, the guy tends to suck around this time of year.. Which is probably a combination of him being gassed, and the fact that he is too emotional of a goaltender to perform well in big games.

Too emotional a goalie? Was Mike Richter not emotional? Hextall? Roy was a psychopath. I can sorta understand the sentiment that you put the bulk on the defense, something I don’t agree with really (not dissing the D, the D is great, but I don’t think the D being great takes away form Quick’s awesomeness), but too emotional? That’s the first I’ve heard of that. He’s a passionate athlete. I haven’t really seen his passion cause him to loose focus.

I can show you a San Jose Sharks scouting report that came out after we got bounced out in the first round again. They say themselves that he is too emotional of a goaltender. So, yeah. If you want to debate it with Pro Scouts, then be my guest.

… Well, a cursory search turned this up: “Darren Dreger of TSN kicked things off with this tweet, with fellow TSN insider Bob McKenzie following up. Kelly Chase, part of the St.Louis Blues broadcast team, then gave us this tweet, saying that Columbus scouts have no interest in goaltender Jonathan Bernier. Aaron Portzline of the Dispatch agreed with Chase’s comments.”

And I could have sworn I even saw something here that referenced it, but I could be wrong on that.

Well, yeah. When the Kings organization drafts a goaltender (Bernier), who they eventually (at least I THOUGHT this) wanted to be their #1, and really do not do ANYTHING to develop him, what message does that send to other franchises?

I would love to see that. Someone of his size, strength, and speed going to a team that systematically produces solid players. If any team in the league could Detroit could turn a youthfull player of JJ’s caliber into something special.

Seems almost incredible that if Brown doesn’t score, virtually no one else on the entire flippin team can score. When was the last goal Richards scored? And Kopi, well that was probably more recent (TB?). Anyone else?

No one is worth 7 million, IMO and Kopitar should be in top 10 to 20 in scoring in the league as he was projected to be, but this yr he seems to be shooting right at the goalie and not placing his shots well. Does not look confident and our best player and highly paid guy needs to show us more. Love you Kopitar but your lack of scoring is killing this team just think where we would be if just you had 10 more goals!

Richards, Nolan and Lewis have really stretched my patience. I was impressed by Penner’s creative passing and drive to the net and as usual Quick gave the team a chance to win. Sad to say I was hoping for a goal so as to not let Rinne get the SO. This team is Dead in the Water.